Ranking all 7 gaijin IWGP Heavyweight Champions from worst to best

#6. Bob Sapp

Bob Sapp as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion

To some fans, Bob Sapp is best known for his career as a Kickboxer and Mixed Martial Artist, however, his tenure as a Professional Wrestler was also very successful, after Sapp won the WWA World Heavyweight Championship and the prestigious IWGP Heavyweight Championship, as well.

Sapp's Pro Wrestling career initially started at NWA Wildside in 2001, before jumping ship to WCW as a developmental talent. However, in 2004 Sapp made his New Japan Pro Wrestling debut, with a win over Manabu Nakanishi and eventually captured the IWGP Heavyweight Title after defeating Kensuke Sasaki. Sapp's IWGP Heavyweight Title win made him the first and only till-date African-American to hold the title.

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During his reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Sapp successfully defended his title belt against Shinsuke Nakamura, before eventually forfeiting the title after suffering a loss to Kazuyuki Fujita in an MMA fight.

About the author

Soumik Datta is a professional wrestling journalist who has been following the business for more than a decade.

In 2017, Soumik joined the Sportskeeda Wrestling team and is best known for his work with the WWE team. He has previously contributed to the Sportskeeda AEW, MMA, and the football team where he specifically covered the Major League Soccer.

In 2024, Soumik crossed 50 million reads for Sportskeeda WWE. While working under Sportskeeda MMA, he interviewed prominent UFC fighters, including Justin Gaethje, Sean O'Malley, and Cory Sandhagen, among others. He is also being followed by John Cena on X (formerly Twitter).

Apart from his love for professional wrestling, Soumik also watches Football and has been a lifelong follower of Liverpool FC and Mohun Bagan. He has also been following the Indian Super League and remains the only content creator to have traveled across India to watch 7 ISL Matches in 7 Days, a video which currently sits at 26K views on his YouTube channel. His channel currently amasses over 120K views.

As aforementioned, Soumik also likes to make content for his YouTube channel and travel to various places either with family, friends, or solo, or go on road trips.

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Edited by Anirban Banerjee